‘There has been such a sh*t feeling for so many seasons’ – Metz’s manager denounces lack of ‘belief’ at the Ligue 1 club | OneFootball

Benoit Tavenot knows FC Metz better than most. He was the assistant manager between 2019 and 2022, and he was then appointed first-team manager back in January. So when he says that there has been a “sh*t feeling” at the club for several seasons, he is certainly the authority on the subject. 

Metz have become a yo-yo team in recent seasons. “At Metz, we are happy every other season,” one fan tells L’Équipe. The club have a knack of getting out of Ligue 2, but certainly not for staying in Ligue 1. Since the 201/22 season, the club have not spent more than one consecutive season in the first or second division; Les Grenats had spent three consecutive campaigns in Ligue 1 between 2019 and 2022. 

Tavenot arrived in January with the club already seemingly consigned to relegation. But for Tavenot, Metz were already consigned since the start of the campaign, after Stéphane Le Mignan had succeeded in guiding the club back into the top-flight. 

Ahead of Sunday’s game against fellow strugglers FC Nantes, Tavenot made his feelings known in no uncertain terms. “It is a nightmare! I have tried many things and I have been criticised, too, but my biggest regret is not having completely convinced [my team] to believe in staying up,” began Tavenot.

“It is hardwired in the heads of too many people that it was hopeless, right from the start of the season. I am sad to have not convinced more people that it was possible. There has been such a sh*t feeling for so many seasons, and people will tell me, ‘Yes, I believe,’ just to make me happy, but in reality, we don’t believe! It is written, that’s how it is. I didn’t succeed in giving them hope again […] I am not taking that well and I am really irritated, but I can’t give any more. These are maybe my limits, but I’m working flat out,” added the Metz manager. 

With the club rock bottom with seven games remaining, Tavenot admits that, in the game against second-from-bottom Nantes, Metz are in the last-chance saloon. “We can’t hide from it: we have to win, no matter how, in order to give ourselves any hope,” he said.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle